Southern Italian workers relocate to Milan and adjust to life in the city, where they reside in a house together. Among the group are country boys Gigi and Carletto, who are overwhelmed by urban living. While some find work at a hectic restaurant, others are employed at a grim slaughterhouse. However, when some of the migrant workers are unable to make ends meet, they resort to theft, worsening their situations.

Giovannino grows up and seeks his way, exemplary in his total and definitive absence of character. He lets himself be guided a little by everyone, without ever making a decision of his own free will. He first seduces the family servant, then runs away to Rome and tries to marry her unserious daughter to a boarding house owner. But her father arrives from Catania who distrusts her and arranges for him to marry a rich and lame girl.